Why
Your Glutes Are Small, Flat and Shapeless It Could Be All
In How You STAND!

By
Nick Nilsson
Author of "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt
NOW!"

Body
position and posture has a HUGE impact on how you look.
Get the inside scoop on how something as simple as how you
stand could be why your glutes are small and flat (and your
back hurts!).

If you're one
of the MANY men and women who want larger, firmer, rounder
glutes but haven't had much luck in building them, THIS
is the article for you.

I know it's
popular to say "it's not your fault" about almost
anything these days...but in this case, it actually COULD
be your fault...and you don't even know it!

You see, something
as simple as your everyday posture could be responsible
for the tough time you're having building up those glutes
of your dreams.

Let's set genetics
aside for a moment - while it's true that genetics CAN and DO
play a big part in how your body develops, blaming a small,
flat butt completely on genetics then just giving up is just
not an option I'm going to let you get away with... :)

First, a little
functional anatomy - we need to know and understand HOW
the glutes work. Relax - nothing too technical here - just a
little info so you'll be able to take these concepts and put
them to work for you right NOW.

Everybody knows WHERE
the glutes are, so I won't get into that. If you don't, you're
sitting on them right now...heck, they're following you everywhere
you go!

The glutes are among
the biggest muscles in the body because their main function
is movement (technically, it's to extend the hip backwards)
and movement is VERY important. This backwards extension of
the hip is what moves you forward with every step you take.
It's what moves your body up when you take a step up on a stair.
It's ALSO what helps keep your body upright and stabilized while
standing.

So how can your posture and how you STAND possibly impact
this big muscle and how it works and grows?

Well, I'll tell you!

First, you'll need
to do an easy visual test on yourself in the mirror. This is
going to help determine if your posture is causing your glutes
to shrink up and not respond well to training.

Go to a long mirror
and stand beside it so that your side is towards it (you're
not facing it right now). Don't look in the mirror yet. Now
stand like you're waiting for a bus or you're in line at the
movies - "normally." Make sure you're standing on
both feet with your weight evenly distributed (not on one foot
or the other). Relax and don't try and do anything differently
than you do in everyday life (if you try and fix yourself now,
you'll mess up the test).

NOW keeping that
exact same body position, turn JUST YOUR HEAD and look in the
mirror. We're going to look at where your hips are in relation
to where your shoulders are.

Ideally, you want
your hips to be in a direct up-and-down line with your shoulders
so you're standing up straight.

But what we'll often
see (especially in the cases of those who have trouble building
their glutes and feeling them working when training glute exercises)
is that the hips are FORWARD of the shoulders and the butt is
kind of "tucked" under the hips.

So instead of
a vertical line like this: |

The body
forms a forward angle kind of like this: <

When the hips shift
forward like this, the glutes are taken almost completely out
of the postural chain - they become relaxed and little work
is required of them.

The immediate problem
with THIS is that the glutes then get weaker and smaller. But
the REAL problem (and the one that affects your glute-building)
is the STRUCTURAL change that takes place in your body in the
long term.

Over the course of
YEARS of this "hips-forward" posture, your body will
strengthen OTHER muscles and tendons to take over the loads
and functions that the glutes were supposed to be in charge
of. It can also lead to back pain and overstretching of the
abdominals, which makes your stomach LOOK bigger than it actually
is!

Don't have
a mirror? Another good way to test yourself on this without
a mirror is this: stand up right where you are and stand
up straight with posture like you're a soldier standing
guard. If this feels EXTREMELY weird to you and it's an
effort to hold that position for more than a few moments,
chances are your body has undergone the structural changes
I talked about.

Eventually, these structural changes in your body will carry
over to walking and exercising! Your
body will not properly recruit the glute muscles when it comes
time to do squatting and lunging movements even if it LOOKS
like you're doing them correctly.

The thighs will tend
to take over the movement to compensate for the reduction in
glute function. The body, quite simply, isn't USED to using
the glutes anymore and has a hard time activating them.

This means even when
you do direct exercises to work the glutes, your body is unable
to properly USE the glutes to perform the exercises!

And when you walk,
instead of using the glutes to actively PUSH yourself forward
with each step, you'll have a short stride and a more "shuffling"
gait (this happens because your leg isn't coming back far enough
behind you).

You're using your
hip flexors (the muscles on the front of your hips) to bring
your leg forward with each step but you're using GRAVITY and
momentum (in a way, you're almost falling forward with each
step) to keep moving, NOT pushing with your glutes!

SO HOW DO WE FIX IT?

Well, the first BIG
step is to be mindful of your posture and how you stand. It's
going to be strange at first - you're going to forget yourself
and have to constantly be your own "posture police"
to keep yourself straight and upright. You might have even to
recruit friends and family members to "keep you honest"
and remind you when your hips start drifting forward.

We're basically going
to be looking to reverse YEARS of "glute-reducing"
posture here, so it's something that will take time. The upside
is, you will most likely start feeling more confident and looking
better almost immediately when you make the effort to stand
up straight!

The extra work your
glutes are going to get simply by doing what they're supposed
to should start helping you increase glute size and firmness
rapidly as well.

Abdominal exercises
can also help here, by tightening up abs that have gotten overstretched
from this "hips-forward" posture. Keeping your abs
tight and "in" will help you keep your hips back and
in the right position.

Finally, when
you're walking, you should focus on actively PUSHING yourself
forward with the glutes with each step you take. You'll
end up taking longer strides and getting places sooner, which
is not a bad thing either.

Bottom line (no pun
intended!), we have to RETRAIN your body to use the glutes
properly. Now I know it's not a quick fix but it IS an effective
fix and can be done with relatively little effort.

Because once your
body starts learning how to use the glutes again, you'll have
a MUCH easier time developing the glutes that you're looking
for!

Changing how you
stand won't give you a bigger butt overnight but it WILL set
the stage so that the work you ARE doing to improve your glutes
will be more effective!